Customer Reviews

Alexander's Bridge

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This was Willa Cather's first novel, and, while showing glimpses of her later talent, is mostly disappointing. The metaphor of the bridge--the conduit to both the past and the future--figures prominently in this story of a Boston architect torn between his ongoing "mid-life" crisis and his energetic, passion-filled past.

The story contains some heavy-handed symbolism (e.g., the bridge), melodramatic action ("With one [hand] he threw down the window and with the other--still standing behind her--he drew her back against him), and awkward phrasing: "'He was simply the most tremendous response to stimuli I have ever known.'"

Still, the story moves along well, and there is an interesting Henry James-like contrast of Europe and America. The beginning nicely portrays the Boston upper class, and the dramatic conclusion includes passages of great strength and imagination. It is in this last chapter, especially, that her skills are most evident. Willa Cather is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of "O Pioneers!" "My Antonia," and other great works. Definitely recommended for those with an interest in her work.

Light on plot, heavy on symbolism, and a little predictable, Cather's first novel (a novella, actually) still contains moments of brilliance, especially in its strong characterizations and occasional flashes of wit. The story concerns a Boston architect who is contendedly married but suddenly embarks on an affair in London with an old flame from his youth. He soon becomes tormented over his double life but finds himself unable to resolve his conflicted feelings. Heavily indebted to the Gilded Age novelists, "Alexander's Bridge" reads like a typical first novel from a writer who shows a lot of promise.

Later in life, Cather wrote an essay entitled "My First Novels (There Were Two)," as close to an apology for a first novel as most writers ever make. She admitted that most of the "younger writers" in her peer group followed the manner of Henry James and Edith Wharton, "without having their qualifications"; she "thought a book should be made out of 'interesting material.'" Only while writing her next novel, "O Pioneers!," did she realize that "taking a ride through a familiar country"--the rural Nebraska of her youth--was "a much more absorbing process." Nevertheless, "Alexander's Bridge" hints at the virtuoso novelist she was later to become, and it's certainly better than many writers achieve in an entire lifetime.

Alexanders Bridge is the first novel by Willa Cather and it is surprisingly strong for a first novel. The bridge metaphor obviousily plays a major role in the novel and is used for good effect and the dynamics of Alexanders relationships between his wife and with his first love who on reuniting becomes his mistress. His turmoil is well described and his final decision no surprise. At times the symbolism is too much and Cather uses it to dominate the story instead of supplementing it .This is still quite good and shows her genius which became more apparent in later works

Willa Cather's first novel, it concerns the life of engineer Bartley Alexander, the bridge he's building across the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, and the triangular relationship he has with his wife and mistress. The bridge becomes a symbol for his failures: the great bridge he's building collapses (causing his death) at the same time his affair with Hilda collapses. Cather had only published short stories before this, and was reluctant (though resigned) to writing a novel. It's a short work, and Cather herself thought it was shallow and trite (she almost disowned it). Her next work, O PIONEERS, would be much better.

It is a story of an affair between an actress and a married bridge architect. They used to be an item way back when, but since then their ways separated and he married another woman, the wholesome, angelic type - the kind you might see portrayed in pastel colors on tin biscuit boxes of British export alongside an inspirational Keats quote.

Alexander the successful architect is suffering from an early mid life crisis, feels bogged down in a perfect, but uneventful marriage, and yearns to feel young again. Just like Alexander's marriage, this book is oppressively uneventful. The description of the affair is wholesome and insinuated. The scant plot, though spanning two continents and three countries, is nonetheless slow pacing. Watch out, though, for the abrupt, perplexing turn of events toward the end.

The writing style is eloquent and the paragraphs flow well and are carefully structured, but the narrative is dull (except that peculiar, incongruous turn near the end) as are the characters. I see no compelling reason to read this burdensome, fatiguing novel, unless you happened to enjoy that famous Edith Wharton account of 19th century WASPy New York society, in which case this might be your cup of tea.

This is an amazing story about a successful engineer and his simultaneous romantic relationships with two brilliant and capable women. Originally published in 1912, it must have been scandalous, creating sympathetic portrayals of each of the three main characters: Bartley Alexander, a leading bridge building engineer; Winifried Alexander, his intelligent, enabling, supportive, and capable wife; and Hilda Burgoyne, Alexander's mistress, a talented and spirited British stage actress.

This is not a perfect book. And in the preface written by Willa Cather in 1922, ten years after it's original publication, it seems Cather almost apologizes for some of the choices she made in telling her original story - conceding it was not truly a story she understood from personal history, but rather a young writer's attempt to tell a story similar to the stories told by authors she admired.

It is not a long novel, so I was able to read it for the first time over the last few weeks. I enjoyed it very much.

The title "Alexander's Bridge" refers to several primary metaphors, including:

a) The story is about Alexander's attempt to bridge his life between two great loves, the two amazing and unique women in his life.

b) "Alexander's Bridge" is also a metaphor for the institution of marriage, a "singular span" that is capable of bearing conventional loads, but that may not be the safest or most facilitative structure to handle the demands of some modern expanses, loads, and conditions.

c) And "Alexander's Bridge" refers to the Alexander's repeated and unavoidable attempts to bridge his current life and responsibilities with the passions, memories, and goals of his youth.

Alexander, for many good reasons, not only loves Hilda (his current mistress and first love), but maybe as importantly he also loves the person he was in his youth when he was around her chemistry and environments. And he regularly struggles with his present life, where his marriage, career, and all the related societal and work obligations have taken over almost all his time and concerns. Throughout the story, he is consciously, and unconsciously in his sleeping dreams, struggling with the relentless memories of the past.

While I love the insight and universal perspectives in this book, unfortunately, my two least favorite sentences are the last sentence of Chapter X, and the last sentence of the Epilogue. It appears Cather was torn with what summarily should be said about Alexander's choices, because the Epilogue is in notorious conflict with the last sentence of Chapter X.

The whole book is an intelligent exploration of morality, ethics, and dualities - it seems unnecessarily disarmed with such an overriding negative spin as is suggested in the final sentence of Chapter X. I understand Cather must have been under a great deal of social pressure in 1912 to identify Alexander's behaviors as destructive, but almost the entire rest of the book is one big long wink to savvy readers that she was under pressure to put such a pat moral perspective on the totality of his actions.

In later books, like My Ántonia, Cather created a male narrator that does not identify his undying loves as destructive. My Ántonia, as a book, is one man taking the time to recollect and share his fond memories of one of his first love's (Ántonia). A beautiful aspect of My Ántonia is a concession by the narrator that his love for Ántonia never died, even though she married and lived a life separate from him.

Alexander's Bridge, in almost every other part of the book, suggests that Alexander was not intent on being self-destructive; but rather, he had excellent reasons for loving both women and for pursuing so many hard to achieve simultaneous business goals. Both women are drawn lovingly (as Cather is so capable of doing).

Cather was brilliant. Notice that Alexander does not die because his bridge crushes him, or because its weight and undertow drown him. He does not die of hubris. He does not die because he is arrogant and ignores the engineering data. As soon as he receives data suggesting the one bridge cannot meet all the demands placed on it, he immediately changes directions and makes best efforts to get everyone off the bridge. He does not die because he is not self-sufficient or because he is unable to swim. He dies because fearful people around him panic, and they pull him under the water as they drown.

The book is an exploration of this important question: Is it possible for good and moral people to have a healthy extra-marital affair? And in 1912, seriously and carefully examining that question in a mainstream and literate novel had to be controversial. The book suggests that when people are faced with more than one great love, whether or not they choose to pursue only one of those loves (and therefore exclude the other), the conflicts inherent in those decisions continue the rest of their life, regardless of whether they choose to love only one or both.

I recommend people read this book to read the internal dialogues of all the main characters. The book challenges common presumptions, and it questions its own presumptions. Buy a version that includes Cather's 1922 preface.

When Alexander sees that one bridge (one relationship) will not safely support the load, he is not a fool. He doesn't stand idly and sink with the ship (the bridge). He makes best efforts to save himself and as many others as possible by letting them know that his one bridge will no longer keep them safe. And he personally goes back out onto the unsafe bridge and tries to save as many of the other men as possible.

The book is not simply a critique of the traditional love relationship formula. Rather, it is more intent on being illustrative of circumstances that might merit something other than simple Victorian guilt as a response to non-singular love relationships. It compassionately shows how one man had separate and distinctly beautiful relationships with two unbelievably good women. It shows how the social constructs of that era led good men and women to live with self-inflicted and sometimes crushing guilt. Each character loves deeply and genuinely. But in that era, they were forced to choose only one. The book considerately examines the inherent negative consequences that often arise out of the traditional marital contract.

I'll make this review brief:

Cather didn't know how to write very well when she put this novel together. I have read iher style here as being comparable to Henry James... no way. This novel is too short, too abrupt, and too lacking in the details needed to pull off decent character motivation, somethng I find vital to novels dealing with infidelity and love.

The scenes read as disjuncted and they do not develop very well. If you want a short Cather novel that is better and want to avoid the commonplace Death Comes for the Archbishop, then try "My Mortal Enemy" This shows Cather off at the better end of her career.